A new method to screen for cervical cancer that would allow women to skip the much-dreaded Pap smear has not yet gained universal acceptance and has instead created a debate over which screening method is preferable.

In the inner city, a health problem is making it harder for young people to learn. The Centers for Disease Control said 30 percent of inner-city kids suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a medical condition that some observers outside the urban core have taken to calling “hood disease.”

Enrollment fairs will be held across the Bay Area this upcoming weekend as Covered California makes an all-out push to get as many people as possible signed up for health insurance before the March 31 deadline.

Bay Area Rapid Transit and East Bay health authorities warned BART passengers on Thursday to seek medical attention if they begin exhibiting any symptoms of measles after authorities learned that an infected and contagious person rode BART in the East Bay last week.

A San Francisco health sub-committee recommends the city hand out free crack pipes as a means of slowing the spread of AIDS. They say the controversial idea is not new, and is already successful in other countries. No surprise that not everyone agrees.